They Were Nobodies
by stlouish682
Summary: A preview of something that I've been working. Hopefully it turns into some bigger, but for now, this is what I have so far.
1. Chapter 1

_They were nobodies._ That's what Ben had called them. Nobody was nobody, everyone had a purpose. Everyone had a reason for existing. Rey had no idea what her parents purpose was. They were drunks, buried in pauper's graves on Jakku. Ben sounded so sure of himself when he told her, but hadn't she already exhausted all those possibilities? There were records, albeit poorly kept records, of pauper's burials on the desert planet. If her parents were there, buried deep within the desert sands—or otherwise—Rey would know. She would sense it.

"You're wrong." Rey finally responded. "They weren't nobodies." She argued. She glared at Ben, in that moment he was Krlo Ren. He was set on hurting her, manipulating her.

"Who, then, would leave their child stranded in a desert junk yard?" Kylo pulled at her emotions. He cupped his gloved hand around her ckeek, masking his powers of manipulation as affection.

"My parents fought with the most important people in the rebellion." Rey mused. "They were brave. They were so much more than you will ever be." Rey started. The story of her parents that she told herself was of Rebellion heroes. They fought for what they believed in. She didn't know if the story even had a shred of the truth, but it helped her cope with the abandonment she felt. She saw the corner of Ben's mouth twitch, fighting the urge to smile. Kylo wanted her to tell him more, and that was precisely why she didn't say another word. She had already said too much.

The planet was dissolving around them as they knelt on the beach, helpless and alone. They were sure to die. There was no escaping once the planet killer began its attack. Jyn looked longingly at Cassian. They hardly knew each other, and yet there was an odd connection between them. Jyn could feel it. The air trembled between them, drawing them together. Chirrut would have called it the Force. Chirrut also would have been able to find a way out of this mess. Jyn close her eyes tightly against the bright light filling the planet. As the radition from the planet killer warmed her face, it occurred to her—they could escape.

She grabbed Cassian's hand and began to chant, "I am one with the force the force is with me." She repeated herself, believing the words she said more and more. She felt her body leave solid ground. The heat on her face intensified to the point htat it was barely tolerable and then everything got cold. The light on her eyelids changed, tempting her to open them and look around.

 _If this is death, it is pleasant._ She thought. She felt Cassian squeeze her hand. She carefully opened her eyes. Cassian was kneeling beside her, just as he was on the beach. He looked confused.

"We escaped." He whispered in disbelief. Jyn nodded. "You used the force and we escaped." Cassian was ecstatic. Jyn was confused. Elated that her attempt worked, she realized instantly what survival meant for her and Cassian. They weren't meant to survive. It was supposed to be a suicide mission. She knew that. Cassian knew it, too. That's why a group of nobodies rallied and went to Scarif without approval. They were meant to be sacrificed. They were not part of the Princess' plan, just willing pawns in the bigger picture.

"We weren't supposed to survive." She started. "We're nobodies. Nobodies don't survive." Jyn pointed out. Cassian laughed, a hearty almost manic sound. She joined in because they had beat the odds and prevailed. But now what? Where were they?


	2. Chapter 2

Rey concentrated on the list of names she held in her hands. None of them were familiar. She thought that at least one name would jump out at her, and she would have some sort of lead. Nothing sounded familiar, nothing looked familiar. Unkar Plutt told her that this would happen if she started questioning who her parents were. She thought that Plutt knew, that he had always known, but he kept it from her. She sat the list down and picked up her bowl of food.

On Jakku, her diet consisted of mostly mush. It was something, that, like the sand, she just became accustomed to. She ate ravenously, thinking about the names on the list. The list was given to her by a clerk at the Niima Outpost registration center. It was a list of every scavenger who had apparently died near or in Niima Outpost and was too poor to have a funeral. They were buried in pauper's graves outside the city.

Ben paced his chambers aboard Snoke's ship. Rey had been missing for two weeks now, and no one knew where she was. Leia sent her to find Luke, but Ben knew that she had her own agenda. She couldn't hind that from him. Before going to Luke, she stopped somewhere, and that's where Ben lost her. He assumed that her destination was Jakku. Why would she ever go back there? Why was finding her parents so important to her? He reached out to her with the force, searching Jakku for her with his mind. He wasn't at all surprised when he found her, hunkered down in a hollowed-out starship.

" _Why is this so important to you?"_ Ben asked through the force. Rey picked her head up and looked around.

" _Not now!"_ She grumbled.

" _You'll never find them. They don't deserve to be found!"_ Ben started. He was baiting her. To spite him, she set aside the bowl of mush that she knew he could see her eating, and picked up the list again.

" _I'll find them."_ She spoke with determination, the kind of determination that made her easy to manipulate. Kylo Ren saw that.

" _It's them."_ He teased her, using the force to draw her attention to a random name on the list. Javi, and Katie Havana. Nothing special about either of them. They were travelers who came to Niima Outpost twenty years ago. Nothing except an identification tag was ever found of them. They were presumed dead. No loss to the Outpost.

Rey wasn't sure why, but the names did stick out. Javi and Katie. They seemed like normal names. Maybe the names of people who were in hiding. Rey cleared her mind and forced Kylo Ren out of her head. She focused on the two names, until the entire list became a blur. Two figures appeared to her. The first was a short woman with long dark hair, much like her own. The other was a tall man, in an odd jacket. Were these her parents? Was Kylo somehow right?

"Where are their remains?" Rey asked.

"The only thing we found was an identification tag and a necklace, near where they were last seen." The receptionist read information from a data pad. "The stuff was filed in LockBox 1568 if you'd like to examine it." The receptionists offered. Rey nodded. She felt like she was being forced to nod along, and she half wondered if Kylo was manipulating her. The receptionist pulled out a small box, no bigger than Rey's hand.

Rey opened the box carefully and blew a layer of dust off it. She picked up the identification card and flipped it over in her hand. It looked like it had been lying in the dust for centuries. The necklace on the other hand looked brand new. It still sparkled in the Jakku sunlight. Rey picked it up and gently turned it over in her hand. As if an electric current were running through her, the necklace began to vibrate in her hand. The receptionist was distracted with the data pad, so Rey slipped the necklace into her pocket and then handed the box back across the counter.

"Thank you." Rey said. "I have more questions than answers now, though."

"That's usually what happens." The receptionist nodded and took the box back. "Have a good day." Disengaging completely, the receptionist walked away. Rey took that as a cue to walk away as well. A gust of wind came from no where and wave of sand hit Rey in the face. At that very moment, she was sick of Jakku, once again. She fished a comm link out of her pocket.

"Chewie, I'm ready to leave." She said, solemnly. Almost immediately, the Millennium Falcon appeared on the horizon. Rey felt confident that she would never come back to Jakku. She was ready to move on and find Luke Skywalker.


End file.
